Running Up That Hill
by Spaidel
Summary: Finnick, Johanna, Katniss, Peeta and Cato are a group of cops who, when they're not working with dead, murdered people, struggles through life and what they want that seems impossible to have. AU.
1. Chapter 1

**So... a new story. I've seen way too many chapters of CSI, and I came up with this.**

**Okay, so I'm not going to say who are going to be the couples in this story, but I am going to state who the couples are right now at the beginning of this story.**

**Katniss/Gale, Katniss/Peeta (one-sided), Cato/everything with a pulse, and Finnick/Johanna (fuck buddies).**

**So, there you have it. I think all of the couples are going to change as the story progress.**

**English isn't my first language, and I suck at grammar, so I know there are a few mistakes here and there... ignore them if you can.**

**********************************DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins does.**

* * *

**********************************Chapter 1**

The small town Saugatuck at night looked peaceful. Quiet. Uneventful.

The night was chilly. The wind was blowing quietly.

Everything was completely silent.

Until a scream, a blood-curdling scream, broke the almost unnatural silence of the town.

A young woman who seemed to be in her early twenties ran out of her house, her eyes wide, her hands shaking, her hair disheveled. She was still screaming. She ran as fast as she could, crying for help, for anyone to come and help.

The neighbors heard her, and people started coming out of their homes to see what the screaming was all about. But the girl didn't seem to notice at all, and kept screaming and screaming. She was running still, trying to get as far away from her house as possible. She tripped and fell on the deserted road, and didn't get to her feet. She was too tired to run.

And she was still screaming.

* * *

Finnick Odair stepped out of his car and took in his surroundings. The big house in front of him looked old and beautiful. The garden was well-kept. The door was broken.

There were already quite a few cameramen and reporters out there, in the garden, delivering the news to the viewers watching them. They didn't know what actually happened in that house, but that didn't matter to them, and they just talked to the camera without giving actual news to the people.

Finnick started walking towards the house as the neighbors and reporters watched him. Everyone looked shaken, surprised, shocked.

Finnick got to the entrance of the house and walked inside. The light was turned off, and the house was dark and quiet.

He took his flashlight out of his pocket and turned it on. He didn't want to turn on the light in the house in case it would change something in the crime scene. He flashed the light at the walls, and saw they were clean.

He walked up the stairs first, because he knew the crime was committed there. He saw smudges of blood on the floor, on the walls. Drops of blood led Finnick to a room farther down the hall. The door of the room was open, and the drops of blood went into the room.

Finnick flashed the light at the door. There was a small, pink sign hanging there. The name on the sign said, 'Annie'.

He walked into the room and looked around him. The room was clearly a girl's room, it was obvious from the bright colors and the huge, fluffy pillows on the big bed.

Finnick flashed the light at the drops of blood again, and he followed them with the light until the light fell on a head. Just a head, no body attached to it.

Finnick was surprised and a little disgusted by that, it was just a head after all, but started walking towards the head. With a closer look, he saw that the body of the person – a male who seemed to be in his mid-twenties – was just a few inches away from the head.

Yuck. Extremely disgusting.

Finnick kneeled down next to the headless man and checked him. Whatever slit his throat like that, it wasn't in a sweep, clean motion. The killer must've used a big kitchen knife to kill the guy, and had to hit the man's throat with the knife a few times before the head detached from its body.

Maybe the knife was even from the kitchen in this very house.

Finnick flashed the light at the ground next to the dead man. He saw something picking from under the bed. He leaned forward and looked at it.

Stocking.

"Ooh, a headless man. That's disgusting. I _love_ it."

Finnick chuckled slightly and turned to look at Johanna Mason. "I knew you'd love it."

Johanna smiled half a smile and kneeled down beside Finnick. She looked at the dead man and frowned slightly. "What do you think happened here?"

Finnick bit his lower lip. "Murder, obviously," He said simply.

Johanna rolled her eyes. "No shit. But why? What did he do?"

Finnick looked at Johanna with concentration. "You don't ask the right questions."

Johanna frowned. "So what are the right questions?"

Finnick gestured at the room. "Why here? Why did he die in this room? It's obviously not his. What did he do here in such a late hour?"

Johanna looked thoughtful. "You think the man didn't come here to kill him? Do you think he –"

"Wanted to kill the girl? Yeah." Finnick got to his feet and flashed the light at the door of the room.

Johanna followed the light to the sign on the door. "So, you think the man tried to kill that Annie girl, and that guy who lived with her tried to stop him?"

Finnick nodded his head. "Yeah. That's what I think."

Finnick and Johanna could see the shadow of someone else walking outside the room, and a few seconds later a familiar woman walked into the room.

"Katniss, did you talk to the girl?" Finnick asked the minute Katniss stepped inside.

Katniss nodded her head with a blank expression on her face. "I tried to," She said. "But the girl – Annie – well, she didn't talk to me. She didn't even look at me. I don't think she noticed me at all."

"Think it's just a traumatic response?" Johanna asked.

Katniss shrugged her shoulders. "Could be. Could be something worse. Maybe she lost it completely. It took an hour to stop her from screaming, and when she stopped, she didn't talk to anyone. She didn't even look at people as they talked to her. It seems like she lost it."

Johanna cursed. "Well, that's just great. The girl who almost certainly saw the killer is nuts, and we have no other witness. Fucking wonderful."

"It's always nice to see how much you care for people," Katniss murmured.

"What? It sucks," Johanna said.

Finnick stepped out of the room and walk downstairs, Johanna and Katniss right behind him.

He followed the drops of blood. They stopped in the kitchen, next to a pack of tissues.

"He probably cleaned the knife with one of the tissues," Finnick murmured and looked around him. He saw the garbage can and looked at what was inside of it. There was no blood-stained tissue in there.

"Shit. The guy probably took the knife and the used tissues with him," Finnick said to Johanna and Katniss.

"So he didn't leave anything behind? Nothing that he touched?"

"Not that I know of." And damn it if it wasn't extremely frustrating, Finnick thought to himself as he ran a hand through his beautiful bronze hair.

"So, why do you think he wanted the girl and not the guy?" Katniss asked as they stepped out of the kitchen.

"Maybe he wanted to kill them both, but just started with the girl first?" Finnick suggested.

Johanna shook her head. "No, the boy's room was closer to him when he walked up the stairs. The girl's room is at the end of the hall. It would be more reasonable to kill the guy first."

"So why did he go straight to the girl?" Katniss asked.

"Maybe killing wasn't his priority," Finnick said slowly, deep in thoughts. "Maybe his priority was to rape her. That would explain why he got to her and not to the boy."

"So, what, he's a night-stalker?" Johanna asked. "Lurking outside of her house, catching glimpses of her through the window, waiting and learning about her, then trying to rape and kill her?"

"Could be."

"So, the killer walked into the house, grabbed a knife he found in the kitchen, walked upstairs to the girl's room, raped her, the girl screamed, the guy that lived here too woke up and went to help her, the killer killed him, which took some time, and the girl was able to run away," Katniss summed up.

"Possibly, yes," Finnick agreed. They walked out of the house. More reporters showed up while they were investigating inside, and more neighbors gathered up around the house.

"Do you know what was the relationship between Annie and the guy that was murdered? Lovers? Married?" Finnick asked as his eyes landed on one of their police cars, where a young woman with dark long hair and big green eyes was sitting. He guessed she was this Annie girl.

"Siblings," Katniss said as they walked towards Annie, who looked at her lap. "His name was Damien Cresta, 25 years old, worked as a teacher."

Finnick looked at her in surprise. "A teacher? I didn't know they earn so much money." The house looked extremely expensive, after all.

"They don't," Katniss said simply. "The house was the house they grew up in. From what I understood, after their parents died in a car accident three years ago, they both lived here."

"She really didn't say anything at all?" Johanna asked as they got closer and closer to the car.

Katniss shook her head. "Nope. Not a single word."

They finally got to the car, and Finnick bent down next to the open window so that he could look at Annie more closely. She didn't even turn to look at him. She didn't seem to notice his presence.

"Annie?" Finnick said, trying to get her attention.

He failed.

"Annie Cresta?" He tried again.

He failed once again.

We'll, fuck. So she won't ever talk to him? That sucked. She needed to talk if she ever wanted them to catch the man that did it to her brother.

He reached forward and touched her lightly on her shoulder, about to shake her to see if she'd be responsive to that, but the minute he touched her something seemed to snap in her; her eyes widened in fear and she started screaming, her hands moving to her ears to block her own scream.

Finnick immediately stepped back as the cameras moved to focus on the screaming Annie. A few cops went closer to her, trying to calm her down, but nothing they did help. She kept screaming and screaming.

Johanna suddenly smirked at Finnick.

Finnick frowned at her. "You think this is funny?"

Johanna shrugged. "Well, she's probably the only girl to scream as The Great Finnick Odair tries to talk to her. That must be a first."

"Well, she's not in her right mind," Finnick said simply, then smiled. "And anyway, I like it better when they scream…"

"Scream your name in adoration as your dick stuck deep inside of them," Johanna said with a smirk.

"Those screams are like music to my ears," Finnick said with a serious expression on his face.

Finnick turned to talk to Cato Volans, who was a cop, a bastard, and one of his closest friends, and Katniss started walking towards her car, it was the middle of the night after all and she was tired and there wasn't much she could do about this situation anyway, when someone called her name.

She turned around and saw that it was Peeta Mellark, who was a cop as well and her best friend since they were five years old.

He smiled at her and said, "And what a girl like you doing in a place like this?"

"Watching dead people. What about you?"

"Same." His smile dropped suddenly. "I didn't see who died, but I heard he was beheaded."

Katniss nodded her head. "Nasty, isn't it? The head wasn't connected to the rest of the body at all."

"And the girl saw it? Is that why she's so…"

"Crazy?"

Peeta bit his lower lip. "Yes," He said finally.

Katniss nodded her head.

"Where would she go then?" Peeta asked.

"We think she was raped before her brother died, so to the hospital to see if she really was raped. If she was… well, I guess she'd have to stay there for a few more days, she doesn't have anywhere else to be after all."

"Do you think she'd recognize her raper if she'd see him?"

Katniss hesitated. "I think so, yes. Anyway, if she was raped, then the raper's sperm must be on her bed or something, and we could identify him by a DNA test."

"And what if he didn't rape her?"

Katniss shrugged her shoulders. "Then we'd be stuck."

"And what if he'd try to kill her again later? Maybe he'll want to finish the job," Peeta said.

Katniss ran a hand through her hair. "Look, Peeta, I don't know what would happen. We'll keep her protected, and that's the most important thing. Now, I'm tired, and…"

Peeta shook his head with a small smile. "No need to say another word," He said, still smiling. "Go to sleep. God knows you work too hard."

Katniss smiled back at him. "Good night, Peeta."

"G'night," He said in response, and looked at her as she got into her car, waved at him with this beautiful smile of her, and drove away.

Peeta bit his lower lip, still looking at where Katniss was just a few seconds ago. He didn't even hear the footsteps behind him.

"You really need to get over her." Peeta spun in his place and saw that the person who approached him was Johanna Mason, who smirked at him.

He frowned. "Shut up," He said, not even trying to deny it.

Johanna still smirked. "She loves him. You know that, right?" When Peeta didn't answer, she continued, "And I don't blame her. He's so sexy, don't you think so? Even Cato agrees with me."

Johanna gestured at Cato, who was still talking to Finnick. Peeta and Cato were never really close friends, they were more of acquaintances, and so Peeta didn't really know much about him. What he did know was that Cato was a cocky bastard who fucked anything with a pulse, no matter if it was a boy or a girl.

Peeta turned to look at the smirking Johanna again. "I know," He said. "That she loves him, I mean. And I'm happy for her."

Johanna snorted. "No you are not. You're dying of jealousy, and you're following her around like a lost puppy. It's quite entertaining, actually. How she didn't notice it so far is beyond me."

"Just shut up, Johanna." Peeta really didn't have much power to deal with the annoying Johanna. She was rude and annoying and to be honest, he couldn't stand her at times. She was a good cop, sure, but she was a bitch.

Johanna's smirk just grew bigger. "Ooh, are you angry at me? Did I touch a nerve?"

Peeta frowned at her.

"I guess I did," She said in satisfaction, then with one more smirk walked away.

Peeta couldn't even begin to describe how frustrating it was, that he had a gun in his back pocket and couldn't even use it against her.

* * *

Katniss walked as quietly as she could into her home and threw her coat at a nearby chair. She made her way upstairs, trying not to make any unnecessary noise, and walked into her bedroom.

She walked quietly to the bed, not wanting to wake her boyfriend up, and crawled under the blanket. She cuddled up next to him, enjoying the heat radiating from his body.

"So, you're back?"

Katniss smiled and looked at Gale's sleepy face. "I'm back," She said and, still smiling, gave him a small peck on his lips.

Gale smiled a weak smile, he was way too tired, and wrapped his arms around her as she snuggled up closer to him. He kissed her on the top of her head and breathed deep breaths, almost immediately back to sleep.

Katniss and Gale were dating for two years now, since she was 23 years old and he was 25. They had so much in common, they knew each other so well, and they loved each other. Katniss knew they were meant to be together forever. She was his. Gale was hers. Anything else was unthinkable.

* * *

After Cato drove Annie to the hospital, Finnick moved to stand next to Johanna.

She smiled at him a real smile when she saw him.

"So… the night is still young," Finnick said, wiggling his eyebrows seductively at Johanna.

Johanna shook her head with a smirk. "No, Finnick. I need to get up early tomorrow. I have a meeting."

"Oh, come one Mason. Just five minutes."

"Five minutes?" Johanna asked with a raised eyebrow. "Look, Odair, we can do it later tomorrow. Right now I'm tired."

"You can sleep. I won't mind."

"You're sick."

"You love it."

"No. No I don't."

Finnick sighed dramatically, then ran a hand through his hair. "I can't believe you're forbidding me this right now. When you wanted to fuck yesterday, I was all up for it…"

"That's because you're always interested, and it was only seven pm. Right now, it's…" Johanna checked her watch. "Four am."

Finnick ran a hand through his hair again, making it disheveled, then said, "Fine. But no fucking tomorrow."

Johanna smirked as she started walking away. "Is this a punishment for me or for you?"

Finnick cursed silently as he realized she was right. "Fine, but you won't enjoy it!" He yelled after her retreating back, then turned to his car. He got inside it and started driving home.

Maybe he'll find someone else to sleep with, Finnick thought to himself as he was driving his car. He had more than enough options, after all. He was hot, he knew he was. He wasn't being vain for admitting it, just aware of his good-looks and charming personality.

He and Johanna were best friends for a long time, and fuck-buddies for even longer than that. They never felt anything other than friendship and shallow attraction towards the other, and the fact that they fucked occasionally didn't change it. They were simply friends with benefits, nothing more, and they were both happy with that.

He got to his house twenty minutes later and parked his car. He had a pretty small house, it was hard to find a decent house that didn't cost a fortune, but he liked it. The house was enough for him. And since he was living alone in this house, it didn't feel too small.

He walked into the house and went straight to his bed. God, he was tired. Maybe Johanna was right when she said they shouldn't fuck right now. He was practically dragging himself to bed.

As he lay down on his bed, he remembered that girl, Annie, how scared she looked. Was it bad that he hoped that guy raped her? Probably. But he hoped he did, because if he did, then his sperm would still be on her. It would be easier to identify who this person was.

Finnick rolled to his side and closed his eyes.

A few seconds later he was asleep.

* * *

**So, that was the first chapter. I hope you all enjoyed, please please PLEASE review, write about all of the bad things and good things in this chapter and fic in general...**

**And have a lovely day :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**********************************DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins does.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Finnick and Katniss walked into the hospital the next day, feeling tired.

After asking a doctor nearby where Annie's room was, they walked down a few halls until they found the right room.

Katniss opened the door and stepped into the room, Finnick right behind her.

The girl, Annie, was asleep. She didn't look relaxed at all, she kept stirring in her place uncomfortably like something was bothering her. Maybe something she was dreaming about.

Katniss sat down in one of the chairs next to her bed, and Finnick raised an eyebrow at her.

"Are you going to wait here until she wakes up?" He asked the patient Katniss.

Katniss shook her head. "_We're_ going to wait here until she wakes up," She corrected. Finnick rolled his eyes but sat down in a chair next to her. He closed his eyes immediately, feeling too tired to keep his eyes opened when it wasn't necessary, and breathed deeply.

At least he could rest until the girl wakes up.

Five minutes after they got there, a nurse who seemed to be in her early thirties walked into the room. She raised an eyebrow at the sleeping Finnick but didn't say anything.

Katniss got to her feet immediately and walked to the nurse, who was checking on Annie.

"Excuse me, can you tell me just how bad her condition is?" Katniss asked, going straight to the point.

The nurse looked at her questioningly. "Are you family?"

"No. Cops."

"Cops?" The nurse looked surprised by it. "Why, did she do something?"

Katniss shook his head. Really, those nurses never knew the whole story of what happened to their patients. "We're investigating her brother's murder. She was there when it happened."

The nurse bit her lower lip and turned to look at the sleeping Annie. "You want to question her?"

"We want to try."

"You know she won't be able to give you answers to your questions," The nurse said. "She's oblivious to everything that happens, at least right now. Maybe it'll get better in the future, but right now it's useless to question her."

"Do you know what actually happened to her?" Katniss asked as Finnick stirred in his place, not asleep anymore but still too tired to actually open his eyes.

"It could be a traumatic response," The nurse replied. "But it can also be a permanent thing. Every brain works differently. It could be irreversible."

Finnick finally opened his eyes and, with a big yawn, got to his feet.

"So, what? She won't be any help?" He asked, sensitive as ever.

The nurse shrugged her shoulders. "We can't say for certain."

"We asked to try and run a sperm test if there were any on her. Were there?"

The nurse shook her head. "She wasn't raped."

Finnick ran a hand through his hair. "Fuck."

Katniss shot him an annoyed look. "Shut up Finnick."

"Yes, dear."

Katniss turned to look back at Annie, deciding to ignore Finnick.

"So, the killer didn't touch her?" She asked the nurse.

"No, he did touch her. He just didn't rape her." The nurse got closer to Annie and lowered her robe a bit, revealing her neck and shoulders. There were purple bruises on them.

"She probably tried to fight him," Finnick said slowly, looking at the bruises decorating Annie's delicate skin closely, "And he in response tried to strangle her."

"But he had a knife," Katniss said. "Why would he try to strangle her if he could just kill her with his knife? It's quicker that way."

"Because he didn't want her dead," Finnick said simply. "Not at the moment, at least. He wanted to rape her first, have his way with her, and then kill her. Why would he want to do it with a dead woman, after all? It's gross."

"He's a raper and a killer and who knows what else. Do you really think he'll think raping a dead girl is gross?"

"Well, yeah."

Katniss rolled her eyes, God Finnick was just so stupid at times, and turned to look at the nurse. "Does she have any relatives?"

The nurse shrugged her shoulders. "Not that I know of."

"So, will she stay here?" Katniss asked.

The nurse looked at the sleeping Annie. "For now, yes. Her condition… it's not good, and it's best for her to stay here for now."

Katniss nodded her head, then sat down in the same chair she was sitting in earlier.

Finnick looked at her questioningly. "Why are you sitting?"

"Because I'm tired of standing."

"No, I mean, we're not leaving?"

Katniss raised an eyebrow. "Leaving? Why? We came here to talk to her and see how she is. That's exactly what we're going to do. So, no Finnick, we're not leaving, we're staying."

"But she said she won't talk to us," Finnick said, pointing at the nurse who stood awkwardly beside Annie's bed.

"Still. We need to stay here until we know for sure she's not going to talk to us," Katniss said stubbornly.

Finnick sighed, irritated, and sat down in a chair next to Katniss. "I could've been at home right now, in my bed, sleeping."

"But you're here."

Finnick leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes and trying to get back to sleep. "Yep. I'm here."

* * *

Cato looked at the big pile of papers on his desk in front of him with a frown. The pile of papers that, as Seneca told him before, was 'waiting for him'.

Of course, he was the one who had to do the boring work around.

"Fuck it," He muttered lowly, feeling bored already, and sat down in his chair in front of the papers. From a sitting position the pile looked even bigger.

He started going through the papers, yawning all the while and writing his notes where he needed to.

Fuck, it was boring.

He decided to take a break after going through ten incredibly boring papers and leaned back in his chair. He blinked several times, trying to blink the tiredness away, and ran a hand through his blond locks.

As he was taking his necessary break, he looked around at his fellow workers. Johanna, going through papers like he was doing, looking bored. Beetee, taking a coffee break and reading, probably an incredibly big and complicated book. Peeta, writing something on a piece of paper, maybe a pathetic love note to express his pathetic love feelings to the oblivious Katniss. Seneca, talking on the phone in his office… fuck him, why did _he_ get to have an office while he was sitting here, with all of the other cops, without four walls and a glass door and possibly a window to separate him from them?

Seneca, who was still talking on the phone, raised his face and his eyes met Cato's. Seneca pointed at the big pile of papers on Cato's table, obviously trying to get Cato back to work. Cato winked at him in response. Seneca, who was used to Cato's attitude, simply rolled his eyes and turned his back to him.

Cato, who smirked at Seneca's response, turned to the papers on his desk again.

The smirk left his face and was replaced with a frown.

Fuck it, fuck it, fuck it.

* * *

Katniss and Finnick had to wait for an hour before Annie woke up.

Problem was, when she finally woke up, she started screaming.

_A lot._

A few doctors had to inject her with a sedative to stop her from screaming. She didn't look calmer after that, but at least she didn't scream.

Finnick asked the doctors to leave them alone with her, and the doctors and the nurse all left the room, leaving Katniss and Finnick in the room with Annie.

Annie didn't look at them. Maybe she didn't notice them at all. She looked at the floor, breathing deeply.

Katniss looked at Finnick, waiting for him to start talking.

Finnick looked from Katniss to the oblivious girl in the bed, not knowing what to say to her.

"Hi," He said lamely after several minutes of silence.

Katniss looked at him questioningly. "Hi?"

"That's a great way to start a healthy conversation."

"By saying 'hi_'_?"

"Some of the best conversations known to man started with a 'hi'."

Katniss shook her head, smiling despite herself, and moved closer to Annie. "Annie?" She asked slowly, not wanting to startle the girl. "Can you hear me?"

The girl stayed unresponsive.

"If you hear me… raise your hand."

The girl's hands stayed on her lap.

"Now, squint your eyes like you're about to sneeze."

"Finnick!"

"What? I'm trying to help!"

"Then stop." Katniss frowned at the innocent-looking Finnick and turned to look at the still-unresponsive Annie. "Annie, we want to help you."

She still didn't respond.

"Annie?"

No response.

"Oh, fuck it."

Katniss and Finnick tried to make her talk to them – well, not really Finnick, Katniss practically forbade him to speak to the girl – for half an hour, until they decided that enough was enough and they would get no information out of the oblivious girl.

"What a productive day," Finnick said flatly as they got into his car.

"We need to try and talk to her," Katniss said simply.

"What do you think we were doing there in her room for half a day?"

"Two hours."

"What?"

"Two hours. We were there for two hours, not half a day."

Finnick rolled his eyes. "Well, excuse me for exaggerating."

Katniss looked out the window as Finnick drove. "Think she hears us when we speak to her, or does she ignore us?"

"What, you think she doesn't talk to us because she doesn't_ like_ us?" Finnick couldn't get his smirk off his face.

Katniss shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Maybe."

"That's stupid. We're awesome. She must be crazy if she dislikes us."

"Not funny, Finnick."

"You have no sense of humor, Everdeen."

Katniss and Finnick got to the police station a few minutes later and got inside. Katniss went to talk to Seneca about Annie's inability to speak to them while Finnick got to get himself some coffee. He was still extremely tired, and a cup of coffee sounded incredibly good.

One man was sitting in the breakroom when Finnick walked in.

"What're you reading there, Beetee?" Finnick asked, not actually caring, and started making himself some coffee.

Beetee looked startled for a moment, then blushed and tried to hide the book. "Nothing, It's – It's nothing. Really, it's –"

"Nothing?" Finnick completed his sentence for him, raising an eyebrow. "You know, when someone says the word 'nothing' three times in one sentence, it usually means it's something."

Beetee shifted in his place uncomfortably. "Well, yes, perhaps, but when I say it's nothing I usually means it's nothing."

Finnick smirked. "Come on, Beetee, what are you reading?"

"Nothing."

"What is it about?"

"Nothing."

"Is it dirty?"

Beetee blushed. "No."

"Is it good?"

Beetee looked extremely uncomfortable by now. "Well, it's a matter of taste, really. I mean, one can say it's the greatest book ever created, but –"

"So, it's good, but it's not dirty? Not possible."

"Not everything has to be dirty to be found by people as good."

Finnick laughed. "Oh, Beetee… you're so naïve."

Finnick poured the coffee he made to a clean cup and turned to sit down next to Beetee, drinking the coffee slowly.

As Finnick drank the coffee he tried to see the name of the book that was resting on Beetee's lap. Something about the cover of the book looked familiar, and he narrowed his eyes, trying to remember where he knew that picture on the cover from.

A red apple, two pale hands holding it…

"Are you_ kidding_ me?"

Finnick couldn't help but snort when he realized what that book was. Beetee was even redder than before.

"I – As I said, it's a matter of taste –"

"You read _Twilight_?"

"I wanted to see what the fuss was all about…"

"_Twilight_?"

Beetee frowned, his face still red from embarrassment. "It's very interesting," He said lamely.

"I'm sorry Beetee, but a book about a girl who's not even that pretty and somehow draws the attention of at least four boys without even having a great personality behind her constant gloomy expression is _not_ an interesting story."

Beetee looked at the ground. "I find it interesting," He murmured quietly.

Just as Finnick was about to open his mouth to say one more thing about how Twilight is really not that interesting, someone else got into the room.

"Hello Odair. Volts."

"Mason." Finnick smirked at Johanna as she poured herself some of the coffee he made to himself earlier into a nice, clean cup and sat down next to him and in front of Beetee.

She looked at the book he was trying desperately to hide in disdain. "Another stupid book about physics and math?"

Beetee immediately got to his feet, blushing.

"I have to go run some tests in my lab," He mumbled quietly, already making his way to the door, feeling embarrassed.

Johanna raised an eyebrow when he was out of the room. "He's weird," She said finally.

Finnick shrugged his shoulders. "A bit. I like him all the more because of it."

"Then you're weird too."

Finnick smiled and drank some more of his coffee.

"You know, I think he's afraid of me," Johanna said suddenly.

"Who?"

"Volts. He's afraid of me, right?"

"Well, you are quite scary."

"I try my best."

* * *

Peeta smiled at Katniss as she sat down next to her desk a few feet away from him.

"How did it go today?" He asked her.

She shook her head disappointedly. "She didn't see or listen to us. I think it's hopeless."

"Come on, don't give up on her so soon. It's only been a day. Just give her some time."

Katniss bit her lower lip. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right."

Katniss smiled. "You're wrong most of the time."

"Except for the times when I'm right."

Katniss chuckled and stretched her arms, feeling a bit sore from sitting in a chair and waiting for Annie to wake up. "What if she won't get better?"

Peeta thought about it for a few moments. "I don't know," He said finally.

"The killer is still out there, probably wanting to kill her, and we don't know anything about him."

"Did he rape her?"

"No. No, he didn't."

Peeta ran a hand through his hair. "So the only way right now to find out who the killer is is to get some answers from Annie."

Katniss nodded her head. "Yep."

"So someone needs to go there every few days and try to talk to her. One day, maybe she'll notice their presence."

Katniss nodded her head again, more slowly this time. "You're right."

"Twice in five minutes? Exciting."

"Someone _does_ need to be there and try to talk to her every few days," Katniss continued talking. A smirk formed on her lips. "I know exactly who."

* * *

"No."

"Finnick, don't be so hasty."

"I don't want to."

"I don't care."

"You go. Why am I the one who needs to babysit her?"

Katniss rolled her eyes. "It's barely qualified as babysitting. You only need to check on her for at least an hour every few days. Once a week, even. It's not a difficult thing to do."

"So why don't _you_ do it?"

"Because I want you to do it."

Finnick frowned. "This is hardly fair."

Katniss smirked. "I talked to Seneca. He agreed that you should do it."

"Come on. I was bored out of my mind today when we visited her."

"Finnick, stop being such a baby. Who knows? Maybe your handsome face and rockin' body would actually get the girl's attention."

"If she was any normal girl then I would've agreed with you."

Katniss frowned. "She's normal. She's just been through a difficult thing. Just give her some time. Maybe she'll come around."

Finnick sighed. "Oh, fuck it."

Katniss smiled. "Meet her at Eight o'clock in the morning in two days."

* * *

**Thanks for all of your lovely reviews! :D**

**So, in this story I'm making Beetee a bit younger than he is in the books. He's around thirty years old in this fic.**

**_swordsandstories -_ There are no districts in this story. They live in North America, I guess where District Four is supposed to be. Not that I actually know where District Four is supposed to be... but oh well. They live next to a sea, which qualifies the place to be District Four.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter, REVIEWS MAKE ME FEEL HAPPY, and have a wonderfully wonderful day :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**********************************DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins does.**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

In a small apartment in a poor town, a man was trying to break into a house.

The woman, his ex-wife, and his three children were curled up in a bed, staring at the door, terrified.

"Go away!" The woman, her name's Carla, shouted, tears streaming down her face.

"Open the fucking door! Open it!" The man screamed from the other side of the door, sounding angry.

"Mom, what's happening?" The oldest boy, nine-year-old Michael, asked his mom. He was scared.

"Stop following us!" The mother screamed at the door.

"I'll fucking kill you all if you don't open the damn door!"

The woman's sobs grew louder, and her two younger daughters held her tightly, looking at the door with wide eyes.

"Mom, please," Her only boy said, starting to cry.

The mother turned to look at her oldest boy, her eyes widened with fear. "We need to go," She said, her voice hoarse, and got to her feet, her two daughters still holding her.

A shot rang out from the other side of the door, and the woman screamed louder and started running, searching for a way out of their apartment.

Another shot, the man broke the door and was able to come in now. The woman, terrified, led her kids to the window of their apartment.

She looked at it, crying.

* * *

"What happened here?" Cato asked as he and Johanna got into the hospital and met with some of the doctors.

"A man tried to break into the apartment of his ex-wife and kids. He had a gun," One of the doctors said, repeating the story to the cops.

"Did he shot them?" Johanna asked.

"No, but the two girls are in a bad condition. They probably jumped out of the apartment's window in order to escape him."

"How high was that window?"

"Pretty high. Their apartment was on the third floor."

Cato cursed silently. "Are they're still alive?"

"Barely," The doctor said. "It's a big fall."

"And what about their mother?"

"Their mother is okay. Shaken, but okay. She didn't jump out the window. Her boy didn't jump either."

"Is she in any condition to speak to us?" Johanna asked.

The doctor shook his head. "I don't think so. Not yet. She's hysteric."

Cato nodded his head and stepped back. "We'll go check her apartment first," He said to Johanna, who nodded her head and followed him out of the hospital.

* * *

Finnick sighed as he stepped into Annie's room in the hospital. She wasn't sleeping, her eyes were open, but it didn't seem like she was completely awake.

She was just… oblivious.

Finnick sat down in a chair next to her bed, looking at the blank expression on her face and feeling bored.

What a waste of time.

He waited there for almost twenty minutes, looking at a spot on the wall across from him without actually seeing it, when something happened.

Annie stirred in her place.

Finnick immediately turned to look at her, his eyes narrowed.

She looked exactly like she did before. Distant. Unresponsive. Like she's not even there.

But she just moved, which meant she wasn't that deep in this oblivious state of her.

Finnick bit his lower lip, unsure of what to do next.

In the end he leaned a bit forward and touched her shoulder, to see if she'd respond to that.

Oh, she _definitely_ responded to that.

Like their first meeting, she started screaming. But she wasn't just screaming. Now she also kicked and punched. She freaked out, trying to get whatever that was on her shoulder off of her.

Finnick didn't move fast enough, and before he realized what was happening, Annie punched him in the face.

The punch was so strong, Finnick fell from his chair to the floor.

A few nurses and a doctor rushed into the room at that moment, all circling Annie's bed and trying to make her feel comfortable and relaxed.

Annie just kept screaming and kicking, not listening to a word they were saying.

Finnick got to his feet and walked out of the room, his hand gently touching the painful bruise that was forming on his cheek.

What a brilliant day, Finnick thought to himself bitterly as he made his way out of the hospital, thinking that this day couldn't possibly get worse.

* * *

Cato and Johanna made their way to Carla's apartment, having a serious discussion as they drove.

"Batman is so much better than Superman!"

"Oh, please. Superman is, you know, _SUPERMAN_!"

"Yes, I figured that Superman is '_SUPERMAN_'."

"No, I mean, he's _the_ man! He's a _super_ man. Batman is just a bat man. That just sucks."

Johanna frowned at Cato. "Superman wears underwear on his tights."

"Well, so does Batman."

"Yes, but Superman's underwear is red!"

"And?"

"It looks stupid."

"So Batman's black underwear doesn't look stupid?"

"At least his underwear is black."

"Which makes him more grown up, unlike Superman and his red underwear?"

"Exactly."

They made it to the woman's apartment and got out of the car. There were still quite a lot of people on the street, talking to themselves, looking at the road where just an hour ago the two girls lay unconscious after jumping off the third floor.

Cato looked at Johanna. "Want to ask the neighbors if they saw the man?"

Johanna shrugged her shoulders and turned to one of the men out there.

After an hour of talking, they didn't receive any helpful information. Apparently, only one woman was in her house when the crime happened, but she lived pretty far and didn't hear anything. All the others came only after it happened.

They decided to check the woman's apartment, and so they made their way to the third floor.

Once they reached the apartment, they walked inside. The door was already open, but it didn't look like something damaged it.

"He's pretty good at breaking into houses, if he didn't break the door," Johanna commented as they looked at the inside of the apartment.

"So, this ex-husband… he didn't really hit any of them, did he?" Cato asked, looking at the window.

"No. He tried to, and he'd probably try again." Johanna turned to look at her surroundings. The house was small, there were only two rooms and two medium-sized beds, one of them in the kitchen.

"There isn't much here," Cato commented.

"Still. We need to look at everything before we go back to the hospital," Johanna said.

They looked around the two-room apartment for half an hour before they got to the conclusion there was nothing in there to help them with the case.

They got back to the car and drove back to the hospital.

"Superman spun the world backwards," Cato said suddenly.

"Yeah, well, Batman is hot."

"Damn it."

* * *

Katniss put on her uniform as Gale rolled in their bed, blinking at the light that came from the window.

"You're going?" Gale mumbled, still half-asleep.

Katniss smiled as she buttoned up her blue shirt and walked to her sleepy boyfriend. She kissed his lips lightly and said, "You need to get dressed."

Gale closed his eyes and then covered them with his hand to shield him from the light. "No, anything but that!"

"Gale…"

"I just feel so free when I don't wear pants."

"So you don't want to wear pants? Ever?"

Gale moved his hand to cover just one eye and looked at her with his uncovered eye. "Bet you'd love it."

Katniss rolled her eyes but smiled. "Get dressed. I'm not the only one who needs to work."

"I'm sure they'd be able to design furniture without my help," Gale muttered, but got up from the bed and searched around for his pants.

Katniss started braiding her hair when the phone rang.

"I'll get it," Gale said as he put on his shirt and grabbed the phone that was on the small table next to his and Katniss's bed.

"Hello? Oh, hi. What? Okay, sure, just a minute."

Gale offered Katniss the phone. "Finnick," He said simply as she looked at him with a questioning look. She nodded her head and put the phone next to her ear.

"Finnick?" She said to the phone.

"She punched me!"

Katniss blinked. "Who? Johanna?"

"No, not Johanna." Finnick sounded extremely annoyed. "_Annie_. She punched me in the face!"

Katniss couldn't help but laugh. "What?"

"Shut up, Katniss. It hurts."

"What did you do to her to make her punch you?"

"I touched her shoulder."

"Oh, Finnick, I can't believe you did that. You know how girls hate it when you touch them."

"Funny."

Katniss smirked. "So, why did you call? Just to inform me that she punched you?"

"I'm not going to visit her anymore."

Katniss didn't smirk now. "Jeez, Finnick…"

"What? _You_ go and see her. I don't have to."

"We already agreed that you go and meet her."

"I didn't agree to anything."

"Finnick…"

"She _punched_ me!"

"Oh, stop being such a baby." Katniss was really losing her patience now. "Look, she responded to your touch, right?"

"Right." Katniss could actually hear the bitterness in Finnick's voice.

"She doesn't respond to anyone else. You touched her twice now, and she freaked out twice."

"Is that supposed to make me want to visit her?"

"Yes. It means that she opens up to you the most."

"Yeah, by punching me."

"Oh, come on. It couldn't be that bad."

"She damaged my angelic face."

"Oh, you poor baby!"

Finnick was silent for a few moments. Katniss waited for him to speak.

In the end he said, "If she punches me one more time, then I'm done with her. Deal?"

Katniss thought about it for a moment before agreeing.

Finnick sighed. "Good. Oh, you need to go straight to the hospital. Cato and Johanna will meet you there in an hour or so."

"Why? What happened?"

"Apparently this guy threatened his wife and three kids that he'd kill them and was about to break into their house. Two of the three kids jumped out the window. They're in the hospital right now."

Katniss bit her lower lip, then nodded her head. "Okay. I'll be right there."

* * *

"How are they?" Katniss asked one of the doctors as Johanna and Cato joined her.

"The girls? They're… well, they're still alive, but… we can't help them. We can try, but they're too wounded."

Katniss looked at the ground.

"And the woman? Can she talk now?" Cato asked.

The doctor hesitated. "I don't know…"

"We need to talk to her. We need to know where her ex-husband might be before we won't be able to track him down."

The doctor hesitated again. "She's in that room," He said finally and pointed his finger at a nearby room.

As they made their way to the room, a boy, a dark skinned boy, walked towards them.

He stopped in front of them, unsure of what to say.

"Are you okay?" Katniss asked kindly.

The boy didn't say anything.

"He's the girls' brother," The doctor said behind them, and the boy turned to look at him.

"Will they be okay?" He asked.

The doctor ran a hand through his hair. "We're trying the best we can, Michael," He said finally, smiled at him and walked into an ER room.

Katniss looked at the younger boy uncertainly.

"He was there," She said to Cato and Johanna quietly. "When his father came, he was there."

"So?"

"We need to talk to him. Ask him what happened, hear his side of the story."

Cato and Johanna both looked at her.

"Fine. But you do it," Cato said finally.

Katniss nodded her head and stepped towards the little boy, but he shook his head. "I want him to come with me," He said, pointing at the surprised Cato.

Cato looked at the boy for a long while, before sighing and walking towards him. "Fine," He said, a bit annoyed that he had to now babysit the kid. He kneeled down in front of him. "Want to tell me what happened?" He asked as kindly as he could.

Katniss and Johanna smirked at him as they walked into the room where the mother was.

The boy, Michael, looked at Cato. "I'm sorry," He said finally.

"For what?" Cato asked, confused.

The boy looked down, and Cato followed his gaze.

Oh, fuck it.

The boy peed in his pants.

Now, wasn't that just great?

Cato had to take a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. "That's… okay. Let's find you a new pair of pants." He got back to his feet and started walking, the little boy right behind him.

He needed a raise.

* * *

Katniss and Johanna sat down in front of the woman, who still looked shaken.

"Miss Littleton, can you please tell us what exactly happened?" Johanna asked, a pen in her hand and a paper on her leg.

"He… he tried to kill us," The woman said, her voice shaking terribly. "Me and my kids. I… I didn't know how to stop him, he had a gun… he never threatened the kids, he only ever hit me… I- and now he wants to hurt my kids, too! I can't… they're my kids, he can't…"

"Miss Littleton, do you know where he might be now? Is there a place he likes to go to?" Katniss asked, leaning a bit forward.

The woman seemed to think about it. "The… he loves the bar. Next to our apartment, _my_ apartment… he loves it there."

Johanna wrote everything down, and Katniss said, "We'll catch him, Miss Littleton. We'll do our best to catch him."

* * *

Cato waited outside of a small doctors closet as Michael put on a new pair of jeans inside of the closet. When he finished, Cato opened the door and walked inside, kneeling down in front of the kid.

"You okay now?" He asked. Man, he was so bad with kids…

Michael didn't say anything, just looked at his shoes. "I'm scared," He said finally.

Cato sighed. "Well, of course you're scared. Your father tried to kill you and your sisters and your mother."

Michael still didn't say anything, and Cato got to his feet again and walked towards the closet door. "Come on, let's check on your mother," He said to the boy behind him.

"He wasn't there, you know," Michael said suddenly.

Cato looked at him in question.

"Who wasn't there?" He asked, confused.

"My dad," The boy said. "He wasn't there."

Cato raised an eyebrow. "So, where was he?"

Michael looked at Cato's face nervously. "He's dead," He said finally.

* * *

Katniss sat down on a stiff chair. "You want to go to the bar alone, or do you want company?" She asked Johanna.

Johanna shook her head. "I don't need company. I'll get inside, see if he's there, and bring him to the station. Simple."

"The woman says he has a gun," Katniss reminded her.

Johanna raised an eyebrow. "I have a gun, too."

Katniss shook her head again. "So, you insist to go by yourself?"

"There's no need to go anywhere," Cato said loudly as he walked towards the two women.

Johanna frowned. "Why not?"

"The man is dead," Cato said simply. "Has been for almost a year now."

"What?" Katniss asked, confused.

"I checked it already. Made some calls to see if Frank Littleton is dead. He is. Died from blood poisoning. Drank too much alcohol, apparently."

"So, what happened in the apartment?" Katniss asked.

"Maybe the woman's crazy," Johanna suggested.

"I've already checked it. She took medicine after her husband died. Something to stop her hallucinations."

"And?"

"She stopped taking it about a week ago."

"So, everything was just a hallucination," Johanna said slowly. "Fuck it."

Cato nodded his head, then ran a hand through his hair. "We gave her the medicine already. When it kicks in, we'll ask her what happened exactly."

* * *

The woman, Carla, sat in a comfy sofa in a private room at the hospital with her son, Michael, who hugged her tightly, looking at the distance without actually seeing anything. They were told only a few minutes ago that the two girls, both of them, died.

Katniss, Cato and Johanna were sitting in front of the woman, on stiff chairs, and looked at her in silent.

"Do you know where your ex-husband is? Frank?" Katniss asked finally.

Carla nodded her head. "He's dead," She said simply.

Johanna raised an eyebrow. "And how did he die?"

"Blood poisoning," Carla said.

Katniss sighed. "Can you tell me what happened tonight, again?"

Carla opened her mouth, about to tell them exactly what happened, then closed it, her eyes widening.

They waited for her to say something, anything, but when she still looked shocked, Johanna started talking. "He didn't come to kill you," She said slowly. "You imagined him, you imagined that he was there, yelling at you from the other side of the door, threatening to kill you. You imagined him breaking into the house. Nothing of what you thought was happening actually happened."

Carla shook her head disbelievingly, remembering everything that actually happened, tears running down her face.

"When you thought he broke into your house… what happened? Why did the girls jump?" Katniss asked, her tone softer than Johanna's tone.

The woman's eyes widened suddenly. "I – I told them to jump," She whispered, her voice and body shaking terribly. "I told them to jump, I told them it'd be safer, I… I can't… I told them to jump." She buried her face in her son's neck, crying in remorse.

Katniss bit her lower lip and wrote it all down.

* * *

**The whole idea of the woman and her hallucination and the two girls dying is definitely not mine. It's taken from the TV series "ER", season 11 episode 4.**

**The whole storyline was just so incredibly awful, I had to write it down.**

**So... I'd really just LOVE to get to 50 reviews. It'd be awesome.**

**Please please please review!**

**I know. I'm obsessed with reviews. I don't care.**

**Hope you all have a lovely day :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**********************************DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins does.**

* * *

**********************************Chapter 4**

"Beetee, what the hell are you doing in the storage room?"

Beetee looked up from where he was sitting on a bucket to Johanna Mason, who was looking questioningly at him.

He blushed. "Nothing. Just reading. It's quiet here."

Johanna raised an eyebrow and looked at his hands. He wasn't holding any book.

"Weirdo," She stated finally and walked into the storage room to take the broom that she needed. A stupid guy accidentally broke a vase and, of course, she had to clean after him.

Beetee didn't say anything in return, just looked outside warily.

Johanna noticed his wary look and curiosity grew. "What? Are you hiding from someone?"

Beetee blushed again.

Johanna smirked. "You are, aren't you? Coward. Who are you hiding from?"

Beetee looked uncomfortable, but being Beetee, he just had to give an answer to a question he was asked. "The new girl."

Johanna looked confused. "There's a new girl?"

Beetee nodded. "She has an unusual name. Clove."

Johanna snorted. "What a stupid name. So what, she hit you or something?"

"No, she wasn't physical, she was just… unpleasant."

"Unpleasant? What did she say?"

Beetee hesitated. "I don't feel comfortable repeating her words… some of them I didn't even understand. But from the few words I did understand, I learned that she didn't like me very much and advised me to go do something very indecent with another guy. She was quite rude."

Johanna snorted again. "Beetee, you're an idiot genius."

Beetee looked confused. "You can't be an idiot and a genius, the adjectives contrast each other."

Johanna smirked and stepped out of the tiny storage room, a broom in hand. "Well, as entertaining as it was to talk to you, I have to go do important, challenging things."

Beetee still looked confused, but now at something else. "Well, whatever you're about to do can't be very important, since you just came here to borrow a broom. The amount of things you can do with a broom is quite limited. Cleaning, even though is important for the environment, is not very challenging or demanding, and you can finish it without much effort, unless you have to clean up a very filthy and very large area, which I don't think is the case. Of course, maybe you're a witch and the reason you took that broom is to ride on it on your nightly trip in town, but the broom doesn't look very magical to me, so I don't think that's the reason you're taking the broom."

Johanna just frowned at him, choosing her words carefully.

"Brainless idiot."

And with those words, she slammed the door behind her, going to do the undemanding and unchallenging work of cleaning the broken vase.

* * *

Katniss walked into the police station when her phone rang.

She got the ringing phone out of her pocket and saw that it was Finnick who was calling her. She pressed on the green button on her phone and got the phone next to her ear.

"What's up?"

"I'm bored."

Katniss frowned as she walked to her small office, which was positioned right next to Johanna's office. There was a broken vase on the floor and Katniss walked around the shreds and sat on the stiff chair in her office.

"And?"

"She's just looking at the ceiling. That's all she does. It's boring!"

"She went through a trauma, Finnick, and it's only been a month."

"A month and a half."

"You're counting the days, aren't you?"

She could hear him sigh from the other side of the line. "I don't have anything to do."

"You're like a little kid, you know that?" Katniss said, smirking.

"No I'm not! I'm mature and all grown up, and I have my impressively long and developed organ between my legs to prove that!"

Katniss rolled her eyes. "Yeah, okay."

"You sound like you don't believe me."

Katniss raised an eyebrow. "It's not about believing you or not believing you, Finnick. I just try not to imagine your thingy."

"Oh, don't act like you don't want to see it, Katniss sweetheart."

Katniss decided not to answer that. "You can take a book."

"Ah?"

"Next time you go to visit Annie you can take a book with you. So that you won't get bored."

"Seriously? You suggest me to read?" Finnick growled. "Oh, this is a torture!"

Katniss smiled. "Goodbye, Finnick."

"No no no, don't hang up, I'm still bored!"

Katniss still smiled as she hung up the phone in the middle of Finnick's begging. She stretched her arms tiredly. She didn't have time to drink coffee this morning and she was so tired, it was horrible.

She needed her morning coffee. She needed it.

She was still thinking about coffee when she heard someone calling her name.

She turned around to see Cato Volans walking towards her.

"Man, who broke that vase?" Cato said, looking at the shreds of vase on the floor.

Katniss shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't even know we had a vase."

Cato turned to the papers in his hand. "You know where the file about Sean Grodel is? I don't find it anywhere."

Katniss shook her head. "No, sorry."

Cato looked at the papers on her desk. "Are you sure? Maybe you lost it or something."

"I'm sure, Cato."

Cato cursed loudly. "I swear I saw it this morning somewhere!"

"Well, maybe you should take more care of your things and try not to lose them."

"I didn't lose it!"

"Sure you didn't," Katniss said, rolling her eyes.

Cato opened his mouth, probably about to protest a bit more, but a loud cry of, "'Sup, bro," stopped him.

Cato turned around to see his younger sister walking towards him with a bored expression on her face.

Cato looked confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Such a warm welcome," Clove smirked. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Not really, no."

"Oh, shut up, you're thrilled to see me."

Cato gave her a long, hard and depressed look in response.

Clove rolled her eyes. "I told you I was coming to work here," Clove said after a few seconds. "Last month. I talked to you on the phone. You sounded pretty excited about it."

Cato looked concentrated for a few moments, as if he was trying to remember this conversation, and then he raised both of his eyebrows.

"What? What's wrong?" Katniss asked, surprised by the embarrassed look on his face.

Cato avoided Clove's eyes when he replied to Katniss's question. "Ah, well, you see, I was, you know, kinda… I was kinda busy when you called me, I was in the middle of doing… something."

"Something?" Clove asked, suspicious. "What was that thing?"

Cato's cheeks actually turned red. "Okay, so it wasn't really a something, it was more like… someone."

The look on Clove's face was actually pretty comical.

"WHAT!" She yelled, looking horrified. Some of the people in the room turned to look at her, wanting to know what was going on. "You talked to me while you were in the middle of fucking someone?"

"It's not a really big deal," Cato murmured.

Clove looked at him in disgust. "Of course it's a big deal! You're my brother, that's just… fuck, that's disgusting, that's… oh, that's horrible." Clove actually shivered.

"Oh, come on Clovey lovey, you know I have a pretty active sex life."

"Aren't you a little cheap whore?" Clove smirked. She then shook her head. "Man, I just don't understand why you had to answer the phone if you were so… busy."

"I just really wanted to hear your beautiful voice again," Cato said stiffly.

"So, you wanted to hear my voice when you were inside of another person? That's sick, bro." Clove raised an eyebrow when a thought accord to her. "No wonder you screamed 'YES!' when I said I was coming."

"Why, of course. You didn't think it was because I wanted you to come here, now did you?"

Clove punched his arm in response.

"Here, that's exactly why I don't like being around you," Cato said, rubbing his arm. "You're dangerous to be around."

Clove punched him again.

"See how violent she is?" Cato said, turning to an amused Katniss with a frown. "I told mom that it's not wise to leave her with gangsters and drug dealers when she was young."

"Really, Cato? And what about you? You hung out with them too," Clove replied.

"Yeah, but they didn't affect me," Cato said with a roll of his eyes.

"And why is that?" Clove asked.

"Because I have a heart of gold and the willpower of a bunny," Cato said with a serious expression on his face.

"Oh, please," Clove said, rolling her eyes and looking unimpressed.

"What? It's true! I'm incapable of doing bad things."

"You ran over a puppy," Clove reminded him.

"And I felt bad about it!" Cato said, as if this makes the whole thing better.

"You're an idiot," Clove said simply.

"And you're far too violent," Cato replied.

"Ahh... you didn't actually hang out with gangsters and drug dealers in your childhood, right?" Katniss asked, looking unsure.

"Oh, Katniss. Of course we did!" Cato said, but his smirk gave him away.

Katniss rolled her eyes. "I hate sarcasm."

* * *

"Clove?" Peeta tapped Clove's shoulder gently when he caught her talking to her brother, Cato, later that day. He just had a talk with Seneca, who told him to help Clove feel more comfortable in this new work place and just help her with whatever she needs. And just supervise her and her actions, because she was a Volans like Cato, and they all knew that the Volans family was very… difficult to handle.

Clove turned around slowly and raised an eyebrow as she surveyed Peeta. "Yes?"

She _really_ made Peeta uncomfortable. "Seneca Crane asked me to help you understand things around the –"

" –You know, you have a pretty low voice for a girl."

Peeta blinked a few times, confused. "What?"

"Yeah, your voice is pretty manly."

Peeta was still confused. "That's because I _am_ a boy."

Clove raised both of her eyebrows. "Oh my god, really…? Oh shit, that's – that's awkward. But, I mean, can you blame me for mistaking you for a girl? Look at your hair, so blond and long… you should really have a haircut. You know, to prevent those kinds of extremely awkward conversations."

And with that, she smirked at Cato and turned to annoy Beetee, who looked at her with wide, horrified eyes.

Peeta still didn't fully understand what Clove just said.

"Did she… did she really just mistaken me for a _girl_?" Man, that was horrifying.

Cato actually smiled apologetically at him. "She just tried to fuck with you. That's a hobby of hers. You don't look very feminine, don't worry. You're actually pretty muscular." Cato looked at Peeta's muscles with an appreciating smirk. Peeta's face turned instantly red and he self-consciously hid his arms behind his back. Cato's smirk grew when he saw that. "Don't worry, you're not really my type anyway. But, of course, I won't say no if you'd ever want to… experiment." Cato winked at him, then walked away, smirking at how uncomfortable he just made Peeta feel, because really, that was his point all along.

Peeta looked at him as he left, face still as red as a tomato, and all he could think about was, "Stupid Volans family."

* * *

Rolling off Finnick's sweaty form, Johanna tried to catch her breath and closed her eyes, feeling all of her energy drifting away from her.

Finnick ran a hand through his sweaty hair and took deep breathes. "Fuck I needed that."

Johanna turned her head to look at him. "Aww, really? You needed a quickie? From _me_? That's so sweet!"

Finnick rolled his eyes at the mocking Johanna. "Shut up. I didn't have sex in, like, forever."

"We did it yesterday in the broom closet at work."

"I know. It was just so long ago."

"You're so needy."

"Let me quote the very smart and horny Fez – I have needs!"

"Yes, but you're far worse."

"How come?"

"Fez is just a TV character, and so he plays a horny kid with needs. You actually are a horny kid with needs."

Finnick smiled. "You say it like it's a bad thing."

Johanna just looked at the ceiling for a few more seconds, then moved into a sitting position and looked around her. "Where's my bra?"

Finnick looked around him too, and when he spotted Johanna's bra he smiled. "Found your bra."

Johanna, who still didn't find it, turned to look at him in question. "Where is it then?"

Finnick, still smiling, pointed at the window. Johanna looked at where he was pointing and her face expression immediately turned blank.

"Oh, fucking shit," She murmured and walked to the open window, one of Finnick's sheets wrapped tightly around her. "How did it get stuck on an _electric pole_?"

"Guess you threw it a bit too hard." Finnick sounded extremely amused by that fact.

Johanna just rolled her eyes. "Whatever. It was an ugly bra anyway. Made my tits look small."

"That it did."

Johanna punched his arm.

"Hey, I only agreed with what you said!" Finnick said, confused.

"You weren't supposed to agree with me, you were supposed to tell me that I'm stupid and that my boobs don't look small in this bra."

"Fine. You're stupid."

Johanna raised an eyebrow. "And…?"

"That's it."

Johanna now punched his head.

Finnick rubbed his now throbbing head. "Women. Tell them what they want to hear, and they're _still_ not satisfied."

"Shut it, Finnick."

"Shutting, Johanna."

* * *

Walking up the stairs to his little apartment that night, Peeta took his keys out of his pocket and unlocked his door. He opened the door of his apartment quickly, happy to be home already after a tiring day at work, and threw his keys on the kitchen table. After making himself a nice, hot cup of coffee, Peeta sat on his small sofa in front of the TV and closed his eyes.

Being a cop was tiring.

It really was.

After drinking most of the coffee with his eyes still closed, Peeta opened his eyes and looked at the TV in front of him without really seeing it.

Man he was tired.

He had to supervise this Clove girl today at work. He would have to work with her for the next month or so.

That was just horrible. So very horrible.

Peeta finished his coffee and put the cup on the table in front of him. It was his favorite cup. Definitely not because it was huge and pick and had hearts all over it. It was his favorite cup because Katniss bought it to him on his thirteen birthday, simply because she knew he would just hate this cup. The hearts and the pinkness of it all really didn't appeal to Peeta, but…

It was a gift from Katniss.

And that's what made this cup so special.

Actually, Peeta had a lot of items in his house that Katniss bought him or just gave him. The little golden statue named Stephano, when he was obsessed with a youtuber named Pewdiepie. His now extremely-tight-but-still-kinda-wearable shirt, which she drew a picture of a bear on it, only it looked more like a really big rabbit than a bear, but Peeta never told her that because she was very proud of this painting. And, of course, the little pepper spray she gave him when he just joined the police. You know, just in case.

Katniss was just a huge part of his life. They knew each other since they were little kids, they knew each other's biggest secrets, they knew everything about each other. Katniss was in a lot of the pictures in his photo albums. She was there in his most difficult moments in life, like when he was bullied in middle school and Katniss just went straight to the bigger kids that bullied him and slapped them all. She was there for him, and he was there for her, every step of the way.

She was his best friend, and he was hers.

Which was probably the worst thing possible. He was just so deep in the friends zone, and Katniss just saw him as her best friend, nothing more.

Peeta really hated this friends zone.

Why was there even a friends zone, anyway? It just made everything more complicated.

Stupid friends zone.

And anyway, she loved this Gale guy. Peeta really wished he could hate Gale's guts, but he was actually a pretty cool guy, and he made Katniss happy, he was smart and nice and, yeah, Peeta wasn't ashamed to admit it, pretty good looking.

It was obvious why Katniss liked him so much.

But dammit, whenever Peeta saw Katniss with him, it killed him. Because he wanted to be the one that Katniss was laughing with and going home with. He just wanted her, wanted his Katniss, wanted her to want him.

Because he loved her.

And damn, that was bad.

* * *

Katniss sat down next to her table at the police station and smiled at Finnick, who was walking towards her with a tired look on his face.

"You look like shit," She said when he got to where she was sitting.

"Thank you darling, that's so nice of you to say," Finnick replied.

"Off to the hospital?" Katniss asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but this time I decided to listen to your advice," Finnick said proudly.

Katniss was actually surprised by that. "Really? You brought a book with you?"

"Something like that," Finnick said and showed Katniss the porn magazines that were in his hand.

Katniss snorted. "Such an educated man."

Finnick just shrugged his shoulders simply. "At least that way I won't be completely bored." He then put his magazines in his leather bag and waved at a smiling Katniss. "See ya later, sweetie pie."

The minute Finnick was out of the room, Peeta walked into the room, looking annoyed.

"What's wrong?" Katniss asked, confused, as Peeta spotted her and walked towards her.

He shook his head stiffly. "Clove is just… infuriating. I mean, she snuck up on me as I was walking down the street and she took me by surprise. I just… I mean, I jumped and fell to the ground. Seriously, it's not _that_ funny. Stupid Clove. I really don't want to be her supervisor for a month."

Katniss smiled at him sympathetically. "Come on, Peeta. She could've turned out a lot worse."

"Oh, yeah? How?" Peeta asked, hating Clove already.

They both turned to look at Cato, who was chewing his mucus, then spat it to the floor and walked away like nothing happened.

"She could've been Cato." Katniss said simply, to which Peeta had to agree.

* * *

**Two months.**

**I'm sorry.**

**God, I really am sorry.**

**It's hard to find time to write when I have to study, study, study.**

**But anyway, I have a question to you guys - do you want me to write who the couples are going to be, or do you want to be surprised?**

**It's up to you. **

**Hope you liked the chapter, review, and have a lovely day :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**********************************DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins does.**

* * *

**********************************Chapter 5**

Looking at the man in front of her, Katniss couldn't help but feel disgusted, as she always felt when she was dealing with child molesters.

She lowered her eyes to the file in front of her, opened it and read a part of what was written there out loud.

"…on 5th December, a phone call was made to the police station by a woman named Cecilia Monson, who said that one of her fourth grade students had a massive wound on her stomach... had changed from a bubbly and happy girl to a quiet, sulking girl in a short period of time… the girl avoids physical contact and shows signs of being raped… cut the hair of her dolls, colored their eyes and mouths in black and removed their arms and legs, which reflects the way she feels about herself… unable to make eye contact with people." Katniss stopped reading and looked at the man in front of her, who looked at her blankly back. "Anything sounds familiar to you?"

"I didn't molest her," The man said simply. "She's my daughter. I would never do anything to harm her."

"And yet, she still has a broken rib because someone punched her."

The man narrowed his eyes. "You think I punched her?"

"Yes."

"Fuck you." The man turned to look at the door of the small questioning room they were in. "I want to get out of here. I didn't do anything to my daughter, I swear. I'm worried about her."

"You're not worried about _her_, you're worried about what she might admit if you leave her alone for too long. Worried that she would confess?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "Why would my daughter confess something that never happened?"

Katniss smiled. "If you're not worried, then why are you sweating?"

The man almost immediately made a move to touch his sweaty brow, but then dropped his hand back to his side.

"You have no proof," The man finally said after a few moments of silence.

Katniss stood up then and looked sharply at the man in front of her. "Trust me, I'm going to send you to rot in jail. All I need is the girl admitting what you did to her. Think that would be proof enough?"

And with that, Katniss opened the door, let two cops grab both hands of the disgusting man that was in the chair at the other side of the table, and watched them leading him outside of the room.

* * *

Cato and Katniss both looked at the little girl that was sitting in front of them with concentrated eyes. The girl didn't look back at them, and decided to instead look at her hands that rested in her lap.

In the end, Cato was the one to break the silence. "What is your name?" His voice was softer than usual.

The girl still looked at her hands, but answered his question. "Vivian."

"You know why you here?" Cato asked.

The girl nodded her head, but didn't say anything else.

"Can you tell us how you broke your rib?" Katniss asked, starting to write down the conversation between them.

The girl bit her lower lip, still not looking at them. "I fell."

Cato nodded his head. "How?"

"I – I was distracted."

"Distracted by what?"

The girl shrugged her shoulders.

"Alright," Cato said. "Do you have trouble sleeping?"

The girl shook her head quickly, a bit too quickly.

"Does your Dad have trouble sleeping?"

Again, she shook her head fast.

Katniss grabbed a Barbie doll that they took out of Vivian's house and showed it to her.

"You recognize this Barbie?" She asked the young girl, who finally stopped looking at her lap and turned to look at the Barbie.

"It's mine," The girl replied simply.

"That it is," Katniss agreed. "Did you change the way she looked?"

The girl turned to look at her lap again. "She was too perfect."

"Barbies usually are."

"I didn't like it. I – her hair was too long. Too blonde."

"So you cut it."

The girl nodded her head.

"And what about the Barbie's face?"

"I just didn't like it."

"And is it better now, with the black paint all over it?"

The girl just shrugged her shoulders.

Cato leaned forward in his seat as Katniss put the Barbie back in the box. "You know where your father is right now?"

The girl shook her head.

"He's being questioned. You know about what?"

"Me." Vivian didn't even have to think about the answer.

"What do you think they ask him?"

"If he hurt me."

"And did he?"

The girl finally looked up at Cato. "Is he going to jail?"

Cato looked at Katniss uncomfortably, and she decided to talk now. "If he hurt you, then yes, he is."

Vivian shook her head. "No. No, I don't want him to leave me. He can't leave me."

"But, if he hurt you, then maybe –"

"He didn't. He didn't hurt me."

Katniss and Cato exchanged looks.

"Look," Cato said finally, "I know it's hard to lose a parent –"

"He didn't touch me!" The girl looked nervous now. "I want to go home. Please."

"But you have to know that you don't have to protect your father's actions –"

"I want to go home! I want my Dad!" The young girl cried, her face wet with tears.

Katniss bit her lower lip while Cato stood up.

"Katniss?" He said to Katniss and gestured for her to follow him out of the room. Katniss stood up and walked after him, closing the door behind her.

"You think she's telling the truth and that he didn't touch her?" Katniss asked Cato, uncertain.

"No, he definitely raped her." Cato sounded very sure of himself.

"How can you be sure? She wants him to be with her. It seems she's more afraid of us than of him."

"That's because he's familiar, we're complete strangers who want to take her father away from her," Cato replied simply. "Think about it – her mother died a few years back, her father is the only family she has left, and now she might not even have that. She's terrified."

"And she'd rather get back to a father that hurts her?" Katniss asked, not understanding how is that possible.

"He's her family. She doesn't want to lose her family."

Katniss looked at the door that separated them from the young girl. "So what, you think she's going to confess?"

Cato shook his head. "She'd not going to confess. She's too scared to do that."

"You sure?"

Cato nodded his head, knowing that he's right.

Katniss sighed. "So what are we going to do?"

"I don't think there's anything we can do," Cato replied bitterly. "We have no proof that he did it. If she's not going to confess, then we can't do anything."

Katniss swore. "So what, we're just going to let her keep living with him?"

Cato looked at Katniss with no expression on his face, then he walked back to the door. "I'll try to make her admit what her father did," He said to Katniss slowly, "But most chances are she's not going to admit anything."

And, of course, he was right.

* * *

Sitting next to Annie's bed, Finnick settled his things next to his chair, then opened a book that Beetee gave him and ate some grapes that he brought from home. After two and a half months visiting the girl, Finnick settled into some kind of a routine – he would read the book out loud to an unresponsive Annie, eat some food, then go back to the police station and work. Even though Annie wasn't the best company in the world, since she never actually talked back to him or made any gesture to show him that she was listening to him, he found himself actually enjoying his time there. It was peaceful.

Finnick opened his mouth and started reading.

"_'Do you truly believe that you care more for me than I do for you?' he murmured,  
leaning closer to me as he spoke, his dark golden eyes piercing. I tried to remember how to exhale. I had to look away before it came back to me.'_ How can you forget to breath? Is she _that _stupid?" Finnick murmured, rolling his eyes at the stupidity of the character whose name was Bella Swan.

"_'You're doing it again, I muttered. His eyes opened wide with surprise. 'What?' 'Dazzling me,' I admitted, trying to concentrate as I looked back at him.'_ Oh come on, who admits something like that_? 'Oh.' He frowned. 'It's not your fault,' I sighed. 'You can't help it.'_ Aw, poor Edward is just too fucking perfect for his own good. Stupid book."

Still, Finnick continued reading the book, snorting and rolling his eyes at different parts of the book. It was actually kinda fun.

"_'How did you get in here?' Asked Bella. 'The window,' replied Edward. 'Do you do that a lot?' 'Well, just the past couple of months. I like watching you sleep.'_" Finnick stopped there, staring at this line for a few long seconds, then closed the book. "What a creepy motherfucker."

A short laugh sounded in the room.

Finnick immediately looked at the bed where Annie was, and to his big surprise, saw that her lips were curved in a smile. He raised both of his eyebrows, too shocked to do anything, then finally realized what had just happened and jumped to his feet.

He walked quickly to the bed and hesitantly put his hand on Annie's shoulder. She didn't scream. She didn't look at him either, but it seemed like the touch didn't bother her.

Finnick bit his lower lip and got even closer to Annie, who was staring at the ceiling, still half smiling. "Annie?"

Annie didn't response.

Sighing, Finnick returned to the book and continued in the point where he left off. Annie didn't smile or laugh again, even though Finnick tried to comment more about the more idiotic parts of the book, like Edward's sparkly body and how Bella ignores the fact that not only Edward is 100 years older than her, he was also a blood-sucking monster who was supposedly dangerous.

In the end of his visit, Finnick grabbed the book and made his way to the door.

"You always come," Heard Finnick a hoarse voice from behind him and froze in his place. He turned around, and saw that Annie was looking at him. Her eyes were almost the same shade as his own eyes, though maybe a bit brighter.

"…yes," Finnick said, not really knowing how to reply to that.

"I don't know you," Annie said simply.

"I'm from the police," Finnick explained.

Annie just looked back at him.

Finnick was getting uncomfortable. He didn't know if he should question her now about what happened that night and if she saw the killer's face or leave it to another day. Maybe there won't be another chance to ask that? Maybe she'd never notice him again?

After a few long moments of thinking about it, Finnick decided to not question her right now. He didn't want to scare her away.

"How long am I here?" Annie asked him. Her voice was so quiet – she hasn't used it in a long time.

"Almost three months," Finnick replied.

Annie bit her lower lip and turned to look back at the ceiling.

"No one visits me," She commented.

"You can't know that," Finnick said. "Maybe people visited you but you didn't notice."

Annie shook her head. "No one visited me. There's no one left to visit me."

Finnick didn't know what to say to that, so he decided to shut up and not say anything.

"You're going to keep coming?" Annie asked, and turned to look at Finnick again.

Finnick smiled half a smile at her. "Of course."

Annie didn't smile back, just nodded her head. "You're going to keep reading to me?"

"You like that?"

"Yes."

"Then yes."

Annie nodded her head again.

"You want me to read you a different book?" Finnick asked.

"Ah?" Annie asked, not concentrating on what Finnick was saying.

"A different book," Finnick repeated loudly.

"Oh," Annie said, blinking. "Ahh… Bridget Jones's Diary."

Finnick nodded his head, remembering that he watched the movie, though never actually read the book. It was a book for chicks. "Alright," He said to Annie, who already returned to look at the ceiling and didn't listen to him anymore. He stayed there a couple more minutes and tried to see if he can get her to talk to him or even just look at him again with no success, then left with a great feeling of accomplishment.

Finally, after two and a half long months, he got the mad girl to talk.

* * *

Hearing the sound of the closing door, Gale turned his head to look at his grumpy girlfriend as she made her way into their apartment.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You okay?"

Katniss smiled bitterly. "I'm great. Just… great. It's always nice to release someone who had molested his daughter."

"Why was he released then?" Gale asked, confused.

"Lack of evident. The girl just couldn't admit that he did things to her, so we couldn't prove that he actually did it."

Gale stayed quiet for a long time. "And you sure he did it?"

Katniss narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you mean?"

Gale talked in a soft tone, not wanting to annoy her farther. "What are you basing your accusation on? I mean, if the girl doesn't admit anything, then maybe there's nothing to admit."

Katniss stared at her boyfriend, shocked. "Nothing to admit? Gale, the girl had a broken rib, she could barely look at me or talk to me, she's not fine."

"Maybe she's just shy."

"Why are you _defending_ him?" Katniss asked loudly.

"I'm not defending him –"

"Yes you are! You're totally taking his side!"

"Katniss," Gale said quietly, "If he actually molested his daughter, then believe me, I'm not going to take his side."

"You're questioning whether he did it or not."

"You said there was lack of evident and that even the girl didn't admit a thing."

"It doesn't mean she's okay."

Gale took a deep breath. "Look, if she has a broken rib then she's obviously not okay. And maybe she was molested by _someone_. I just don't understand why you instantly accuse the father –"

"Oh, so this is what it's about," Katniss said bitterly, "You don't like the fact that a _father_ might have hurt his daughter intentionally."

Gale looked uncomfortable. "I –"

"Gale, I know you want to keep your memory of _your_ father intact, but I think this case bothers you so much because you know that your father sucked just as bad as this one."

Gale's eyes were wide with anger. "Shut up, Katniss. Just shut up."

Katniss, however, didn't shut up. "This father is not innocent, Gale, just like your father wasn't."

"My father was a good man…" Gale said, his voice shaking.

"He spent all of your money on drugs, he didn't take care of you, didn't care about you!" Katniss yelled, frustrated with Gale and the lost case. "You can't keep defending him!"

"Don't talk about him like that," Gale said quietly, with a warning tone in his voice.

"How can you think that he was a good man?" Katniss asked, not lowering her voice down. She was so annoyed, so angry about the case and the fact that the man still lived with his poor daughter and was probably raping her at this very moment, that she barely even realized what she was saying and how she took out her own anger on Gale. "Maybe he was your father, but he was a scumbag, and if you still don't realize that, then maybe your stay in jail screwed you up more than I initially thought."

Gale's face turned blank almost immediately, and Katniss instantly regretted her words.

"Gale, I'm sorry…" Katniss said pathetically, not sure of how she can take back the things she said.

Gale walked to the door behind Katniss without looking at her, and went out of the apartment without saying a single word back to her.

Katniss stared at the spot Gale was in only a few seconds ago, then covered her face with her hands and muttered one word.

"_Shit_."

* * *

**Hello, people!**

**So, not a funny chapter, and this story finally gets a little bit more dramatic! Progress.**

**Most of you didn't want me to tell who the couples are going to be (I'm not sure about most of them myself), but what I'm going to say is that most of the couples are not going to be canon, because I don't like it. And I'm going to reveal, though it was pretty obvious, that Finnick and Annie are going to be together. They're just awesome together, so I had to pair them up in this story. They're perfect for each other :)**

**Anyway... Gale was in jail? And his father was a scumbag? How nice.**

**Hope you liked the chapter, and have a lovely day! :D**


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